Wednesday, November 3, 2010

KBS 2TV’s “Sungkyunkwan Scandal”came to an end on November 2nd. Although the drama only managed to garner 10% in viewer ratings, it quickly drew die-hard fans with various syndromessuch as the ‘Seon Joon syndrome’ and ‘Geol Ohobsession’, helping the drama attract more popularity along the way.

Despite the producers previously claiming that a season 2 would not be in the works due to plot conflicts, a representative of production companyLemon Rainrevealed that the drama might indeed be continuing on to season 2 in a recent interview with Osen.

- The viewer ratings for the drama were rather low, but you still managed to succeed in bringing attention to the drama. How does it feel now that everything has come to an end?

“I’m actually highly disappointed with the viewer ratings. Only the TV broadcast is factored in despite there being a variety of other routes of viewing the drama such as through re-broadcasts and DMB viewing. It’s disappointing that such routes aren’t factored in, but we’re trying not to put too much importance on these numbers.”

- All of the cast members received praise for their acting. How would you judge them from the perspective of their producer?

“We’re all extremely satisfied. At the beginning, there were a lot of problems with synchronizing everything together, but with each passing episode, everyone started getting the hang of it. When news of the lineup first got out, a lot of the people around us began asking whether we’d even be able to produce a drama with such a cast, but our persistence won in the end. We’re just glad that everyone did so well. As for our perspective, we feel that we were able to turn over the assumptions that these particular actors wouldn’t have worked for this drama.”

- You have been receiving consistent requests for a season 2. Is one in the works?

“It’s not that we’re not planning it. If we do, we’d like to create another teenage story. There weren’t ever any historical dramas based on teenagers in the Chosun dynasty. It’s not like there were only those four youths from ‘Sungkyunkwan Scandal’ living at that time. It’d be nice to draw a new story with a different set of teens. Nothing’s been confirmed yet, but we have been listening to suggestions coming in. Still, it’s easier said than done. We’ll be preparing for another one by the end of next year or later. Regardless, we have positive opinions on the production of a season 2.”

- What do you think ‘Sungkyunkwan Scandal’ means? What is it worth?

"That is probably the most difficult question to answer. A drama is just a drama, but there are a variety of opinions. Some said that we tried too hard to lecture the viewers…But from the producer’s standpoint, we didn’t want the drama to be something that the viewers would forget after one viewing. We put a lot of emphasis on societal problems of the time, and tried to make it connect with our youth of today. We hope that it’s a meaningful drama with a lot of messages to send out.”

Netizens commented, “Who hopes that they keep the current cast?“, “Please don’t change the current cast!“, and “Let’s keep the four for the next season as well.”